The 108th Regiment Royal
Armoured Corps (The Lancashire Fusiliers) (108 RAC) was an armoured
regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War
II.

Origin and traditions

108th Regiment RAC was formed
at Barnard Castle on 1 November 1941 by the conversion to the armoured
role of 1/5th (Bury) Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, a 1st Line
Territorial Army infantry battalion. 1/5th Battalion had been serving
in 125th Infantry Brigade of 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division,
which were redesignated 10th Armoured Brigade and 42nd Armoured Division
respectively. All three regiments in the brigade were drawn from the
Lancashire Fusiliers and underwent simultaneous conversion (the other
two became 109 RAC and 143 RAC).

The regiment was intensely
proud of its Lancashire Fusiliers heritage, and always included the
name in its RAC designation. Soon after its conversion, the 108th's
officers were ordered to wear the black beret of the RAC with their
battledress uniform; but in common with other infantry units transferred
to the Royal Armoured Corps, personnel would have continued to wear
their Lancashire Fusiliers cap badge on the beret.[1] 108 RAC also continued
the Lancashire Fusiliers' commemoration of Gallipoli Day (25 April)
and Minden Day (1 August). Minden Day was celebrated by Trooping the
Colour, a drum-head service, and regimental sports, followed by the
officers visiting the men at dinner.
Training

In January and February 1942
the regiment began to receive its first Covenanter tanks, some 'in extremely
poor condition'. In May 1942, 10th Armoured Brigade was converted into
10th Tank Brigade. This meant that its role was changed from Cruiser
to Infantry tanks, and 108 RAC began to receive Valentines and Churchills
in place of Covenanters, which were passed on to the newly formed 1st
Polish Armoured Division. The brigade also moved to the 'Dukeries' area
of Nottinghamshire where RAC infantry tank training was carried out:
108 RAC moved to Rufford Abbey in June 1942.

In October 1942, 10th Tank
Brigade was attached to 48th (South Midland) Division, a Reserve infantry
division tasked with holding and training reinforcements. In December
the Brigade and its regiments were given the role of producing drafts
for RAC units serving overseas. Consequently, in January 1943 108 RAC
reorganised into three training wings:

Wireless
Gunnery
Driving and Maintenance

The regiment now held a very
mixed collection of tanks, including Cruiser Mk I, Cruiser Mk II, Cruiser
Mk IIa, Cruiser Mk III, Cruiser Mk IV, and Covenanters, Valentine and
Churchill infantry tanks, and later some Sherman Vs. Throughout 1943,
men were posted into the regiment from RAC training regiments, and posted
out to drafts for overseas service.
Disbandment

In August 1943, rumours began
to circulate that 10th Tank Brigade was scheduled for disbandment. Members
of Parliament for the Lancashire towns complained about the possible
loss of their TA battalions, and a recruiting team arrived to persuaded
men to volunteer for the Parachute Regiment if the brigade disbanded.
Although 10th Tank Brigade moved to Wensleydale in September, with 108
RAC at Wensley village, the impending disbandment was confirmed shortly
afterwards.

On 22 November the final announcement
was received that 108 RAC would be disbanded by the end of the year,
and 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers would go into a state of suspended animation.
Some officers were sent for retraining as infantry officers, but most
of the officers and other ranks were posted to other RAC units or training
regiments, with a few wireless operators transferring to the Royal Corps
of Signals and gunners to the Royal Artillery.

Postwar, 5th Battalion, Lancashire
Fusiliers was reconstituted in the Territorial Army 1947.

A

B

C

1

This is Jim Hearne
he was 1/5th then (108 Regt R.A.C) on disbandment he went to 43rd Reece
Regt

2

3

Jim Hearne with
43rd Reece Regt after the disbandment of 1/5th Bn

Alfred Horspole,
whose niece is trying to trace anyone who knew him. if
you can help click on photo

Sent in by
Robert Le Chantouxwho is researching108,
109, 143 RAC
which the 1st/ 5th and 1st/ 6th Bn and 9th Lancashire Fusiliers became
part of.

1.

2.

3.

4

Trooper Robb. There is a trooper G Robb listed
in the 1/5 LF (108 RAC) 1946 booklet as a member of HQ Sqn, so I believe
him to be the same individual. His regimental number 7881646 indicates
that he was RTR. Not surprising as once converted to RAC an influx of
experienced RTR trooper, NCOs, WOs and officers came to bring their
expertise to the converted infantry battalions. As you will see from
the photo he is still wearing the LF cap badge he wore when in 108 RAC.
It is an extract form a group photo of G Wing, 100 OCTU (Sandhurst)
taken in April 44.

By the way on that very interesting list in the 1946 booklet I found
at least three ex 108 RAC officers: Lt Clark, Hird and Moxon who were
KIA in 1944 serving in armoured regiments. One in Italy and two in N.W.E.

1. Set of photos linked to Corporal J G
Hofton. You might be interested by the following to add to your site.
There are photos of the MT section of 1/5 Lancs Fus taken sometime between
I believe end of 1940 and before conversion to a RAC regt i.e end of
Oct 1941. In fact I noticed that it is the photo listed in your 2bn
section. I can say that because the photo I am sending you is on a frame
with at the top the mention "1/5 Lancashire Fusiliers MT section".
To get a better resolution I unframed it. The title is attached if you
can reunite them.
The reason for those dates is the fact that some of them on the photo
are wearing the 42 Inf Div flash, a red Arm of service strip for 125
Inf Bde and the bn flash (difficult to see but badges are there when
using a magnifying glass). Set of badges which were not worn as such
before end of 1940 early beginning of 41. But I am opened to any other
information. Fourth row extreme right is J G Hofton.
By the way I would be interested if you had any information on Platoon
Sergeant Major (WO III) F Hawkins and the two sergeants seated in front.
They were probably either regulars coming form an active LF Battalion
or were recalled to the Colours! PSM Hawkins hs at least two ribbons
(India?).

2. Photo of five Fusiliers. Fusilier (then)
3451299 J G Hofton is front row extreme left. He is listed in 108 RAC
booklet as C Sqn. His AB 64 mentionned him qualified and employed as
a Motor Mechanic. He was by trade as a civilian a lorry driver. Something
less common in 1939 than to day.3. The man in the middle front row is (to
be confirmed) 3456815 Fus W Furnevall. He is also listed in the 1946
booklet as HQ Sqn 108 RAC. Extreme right is 3457314 Fus E L Thomas.
Listed as HQ Sqn 108 RAC. Standing behing Thomas is Fus 3452335 C Button
, listed in HQ Sqn 108 RAC. I could not identify the last man. The four
identified men are in the large picture.

4. Photo of Fusiliers J G Hofton probably
taken early after joining given the way he is dressed i.e. BD blouse
a bit loose and not very well fitted.

Once published in February 2009 I will forward to you a copy of the
magazine. The article is not specifically around the Lancashire Fusiliers
but I believe will interest you as it is part of the history of the
Infantry battalions during WW II which has been quite forgotten.

Hoping that it is of some interest to you
Best regards

Robert

"This is a short account
of the 2 year period 1941 to 1943 when the 1/5th LF
(now re retrained as an Armoured Regiment and known as the 108th Regiment
RAC)
were to spend their last 2 years in the UK before disbandment"

1/5th Bn. (the 108th
Regt. R.A.C.) The Lancashire Fusiliers Bulletin.

DRAFT 1941 - 43

In the following paragraphs my purpose is to write the
last chapter, the tragic end, of a noble tale in all many
years long.
As 1941 began, we were defending the coast in the neighbourhood
of Southwold, Suffolk: the positions were considered important.
We were "next to the Navy by the sea." Looking
at a seven or eight hundred-yard platoon front, it seemed
just as well that the Navy was there. We dug, delved and
sandbagged; rabbits were found wandering about lost in
one labyrinthine position; one isolated post known as
Hitler's Doom was no miscalled. The key point required
the pier to be breached. With great expenditure of energy
and tools, for the operation was difficult, the R.E.'s
cut the hole necessary. A few days later, with much greater
speed and energy, an errant sea mine carved a precisely
similar hold ten yards further to landward, causing quite
sympathetic reactions on the part of countless beach mines,
but quite unsympathetic ones on the part of numerous persons,
then asleep, a-shave or a-breakfast, who had quickly to
concern themselves with the identification of the explosion.
However, pitchpine burns very well.
It was here that B.H.Q. occupied a Girls' School (evacuated
of course), where there was found the notice:
"If you do not feel well in the night, ring for the
Mistress on duty."
The Signal Platoon was detailed to repair the bells.
In February we shuffled southward and to some, at that
time a Swastika meant not only a Nazi emblem. There was
the vital outpost of Minsmere, a beauty spot, some said;
others said otherwise. Many and great were those who inspected
that delectable spot, though highly-polished field boots
went ill with underground emplacements deeply muddy, particularly
if trodden on in the dark. Was it in that station that
the idea of a movable barbed wire on rollers was thought
of (though never put into practice) to satisfy the differing
tactical views of the hierarchy, which made inspecting
visits? In summary, it may be said to have been one of
the many places, which we have occupied in winter, which
were reputed to be delectable resorts in the summer months.
Then we pulled out for training in Colchester. Some knew
that garrison town from previous sojourns there. The Camp
had things in its favour and things against it. We lived
as a Battalion. The band played N.A.A.F.I. We marched
cheerfully, knew well a certain reservoir and the watery
fields surrounding it. Decrees from on high sent us on
exercises we seemed to do adequately. One observer claimed
to have counted 231 different dogs in the camp on the
same day, and the county constabulary intervened, not
(as was inferred from the number of sausages in the rations)
the Ministry of Food.
For a month we went to the sea at Clacton, again with
Companies separated. A pleasant place but a cold May.
We saw for the first time that beach scaffolding said
to be designed for the Boche to tie up his barges. The
Second in Command (Major Whowell) left us.
Then back again to Colchester and more exercises and training,
but for a short time only. By June, we were living near
Thetford (Norfolk) in holes, in trees, in tents, and by
great good luck the weather until almost the end of out
stay was uninterruptedly fine. We found places to bathe.
Exercises on the grand scale took place, and those who
adjudicated praised us highly for our part in them. We
were a happy Battalion, and it seemed we were well thought
of. Major Hutchinson came back to us as Second in Command,
which seemed a good augury as well as a happy-occasion.
About this time a very strange rumour was heard faintly.
We did not go back to Colchester, which was what we had
imagined we would go, but stopped so to speak, half way.
And some very pleasant weeks passed with half the Battalion
at or around the Elizabethan hall at Long Melford, and
half some four miles to the south at Sudbury. It was good
weather. The people were very pleasant. C.Q.S.M. Waltis
joined the Battalion at this time, and thus we were richer
by a grand old Lancashire Fusilier of many years service.
Carrier driving became a fashion, and some attempted motorcycles.
Scientific persons with children's puzzle games, known,
perhaps for reason of security, as "Intelligence
Tests." Visited us. We were amused, for we would
not be ruffled, through the rumour was now a great tact
known definitely, portentous for the future, and we were
prepared to explore a new world with keenness and interest,
without too much pleasure, but rather doggedly determined
to "have a do." We began in the manner of keen
amateurs to use wireless sets: there was, indeed, something
known as wireless security, but it troubled us a little:
was it our fault if we used the first of half a dozen
or more different procedures, which were to occupy our
working hours in time to come! About now some left our
Battalion; it was an evil omen.
Our next move was back once more to Colchester, but this
time to an old barracks whose named showed what we Englishmen
can do with French Language when we really try! Strange
courses were attempted in the Battalion, and there began
a great exodus to courses elsewhere. We lived partly in
on place and partly in another, for some of the Battalion
were left in Long Melford, and we were short of some important
personnel because of the external courses. Without a murmur,
to their eternal credit, one or two of the remaining Don
R's did day and night duty for three days, riding anything
up to two or three hundred miles in the twenty-four hours.
The drummer on duty sounded the calls; the band, of whom
a pleasing photograph remains, taken on a successful Minden
Day at Long Melford, played the Battalion to Church (if
not always to the right church!) The future of the old
B Coy., became a sorrowful thought, and then Major Hutchinson,
deemed too old, left us; it was an unhappy augury and
a sorrowful occasion. We regarded him as the Father of
the Battalion.
One gloomy October morning, stumbling about in the mist
before dawn, with everything, regular and irregular equipment,
packed somehow into the transport, we set off for a two-day
journey to the North. The North sounded a pleasant change,
even if it was, as usual, on the "wrong" side
of the Penning Chain. We were undeceived pretty rudely
by the cold, half-constructed camp near Barnard Castle,
which we were the first to occupy. The external courses
claimed more and more of our N.C.O.'s and men, and very
creditably, by and large, did they acquit themselves in
the process. As the Battalion gradually re-assembled,
a great spate of Technical courses was attempted; with
rather less equipment than was necessary for adequate
success, but undertaken nevertheless with gusto, and with
some measure of proud determination to conquer fields
quite foreign to our previous Army training. We were keen.
Major Chester Master had come to us as Second in. Command,
and the great bulk of Captain (as he then was!) Stewart
filled the Adjutant's Office, and this contributed notably
to our strength. A depressing instruction arrived in March
or thereabouts, showing what training we should be doing
in September and October. Some of us had had hopes of
being ready for action, or even of being abroad before
then. It was disappointing. Some young soldiers were posted
to us, and some older ones went. We had no reason to view
the matter with dismay; happily the future was hid from
our eyes.
A Gallipoli Day stand out in our memory of Barnard Castle,
complete with a football match in which the Sergeant's
team was surprisingly worsted; and another day when a
great and impressive soldier dealt in a very few and very
cogent words with the future of the Brigade. It was our
second change of role, not invalidating our recent efforts
in training indeed, but a rather less striking future
was unfolding before us, and there would undoubtedly be
further delay involved in the change of equipment. Delay
is the enemy of morale, but our spirits were high enough
yet and the new equipment was impressive. One last Picture
lingers of a stoutly built stone cottage which "sat
down on all sides" of one of our earlier vehicles.
Well, what might we not do with the newer ones? The Concert
Party came into being, and that was to beguile our leisure
hours in months to come, keeping us, as we remained to
the end, a happy unit, prepared to look the world in the
face. But the Band had gone, disintegrated; it is easier
to pull things to pieces than to build them up.
And one fine summer day, using trains and road convoys,
we set off again southward, to Rufford Abbey, a huge mansion
which housed a large part of the Battalion itself with
the rest grouped in huts around and a park which was to
constitute one of several small but good training areas.
We had been too long at Barnard Castle; we were to be
longer here. Distant now from any town of size, the leisure
hours of the Battalion were passed largely in the villages
at hand, and it may be said that we adapted ourselves
successfully to village life. Not long after our arrival,
Minden Day was celebrated. On the previous Minden Day,
there had been a small fire, which may account for the
readiness in which the fire hoses were kept on the 1942
anniversary!
Some went far a field and gazed with admiration on Cathedrals
and Ministers, or enjoyed the more mundane pleasures of
town life, while very many will remember with pleasure
and great gratitude the villages which made us welcome
to all their functions and sports grounds.
More drafts left us and we complained bitterly; our chances
of action were being reduced; we were losing men we knew,
liked and understood, who were unlikely to be as happy
away from their own Unit. It was December that the great,
the crippling draft was taken. We knew that we should
not be the
same without it; there was never quite the same tone with
those men.
Our numbers were made up and we began to work happily
and pleasantly with other victims of policy; we were,
after all, trying to do our job of work. Great intakes
came to us, and individual training began yet once more,
with the Unit organised in Wings. The work was done thoroughly,
if rather bitterly. Major Chester Master left us, also
Capt. Hopson, for so long and so successfully Adjutant,
to be heard of later in the gallant exploit. "S Commando
Bridge." An Assault Course brightened a drab existence
and helped us to keep our military self-respect.
Spring slipped by into Summer, Minden Day cam again, we
Trooped the Colour. It was a gesture, and a noble ceremony,
loyally practised and performed adequately. Lt.-Col. Smith
had gone; he had commanded the Battalion in France and
since, and had sought for long to see active service again.
Lt.-Col. Eveleigh assumed command, but he too was gone
all too soon.
At the end of September, we moved at last. The last act
of the tragedy was at hand. North again to Wensleydale,
Yorkshire. A beautiful valley and pleasant villages, but
very inaccessible. Major Allen was commanding, and to
him, for twenty-one years an Officer of the Battalion,
it fell to pronounce the blessing over the corpse.
We shall go forth upon our several ways the better for
having belonged to this Battalion. We have had good times
and we have had bad; these days we shall never forget,
nor the spirit, which animated them, and, if we shall
meet again, we shall laugh over the stories which will
be told of the happy comradeship.

" The Last Minden Parade
of 1/5LF(108 Regiment RAC)
August 1943.
Note:-Lt Westmore was the Ensign of the Colour Guard and was the author
of these original notes"

Rufford Abbey
1943

Rufford Abbey
Today

"The Last Minden Parade
of 1/5LF (108 Regiment RAC)August 1943.
Note: - Lt. Westmore was the Ensign of the Colour Guard
and was the author of these original notes"MINDEN DAY 1943
By Capt. Michael Westmore

Before beginning to describe the happenings on this eventful
day I must describe to you, who may have never seen the
place, the appearance of Rufford Abbey grounds where we
had then been stationed for over a year, and it's surroundings.
This is a part of Nottinghamshire where old and New England
have mingled and as yet the issue as to which will leave
its stamp on the countryside the longest is not decided.
To the traveller who keeps to the great roads leading North
is presented a long succession of plough land and pasture
with every now and then a great house in the distance surrounded
by it's parks and lawns, it's hedges and bridges, and it's
wide approaches of meadow and ornamental lakes. A green,
damp, peaceful countryside, where man has only interfered
in his most stately and munificent moods.
It is only when he turns off these great roads and travels
some few miles to the East of West that the traveller begins
to discover the true nature of the country. In the distance
he will se the great dominating grimness of the slagheap
and the spidery headstocks of the pits. Below on either
side stretch the new mushroom village-towns that supply
the miners with shelter and rest. A very different picture
to that of the stately houses that lie beside the great
road.
From the summer of 1942 to the autumn of 1943 he would have
found, billeted in the village, and the Nissen huts in the
grounds of the Abbey, the Regiment of the Royal Armoured
Corps which concerns us, together with it's tanks, vehicles,
and equipment. Many of those he
Questioned would have told him, a little ruefully, that
those he saw about him were the remnants of what must have
been the happiest, most friendly Battalion of infantry in
the British Army - the 1st/5th Battalion, The Lancashire
Fusiliers.
Such was the setting were, at the end of June, 1943, Lt.-Col.
J.K. Smith, who had commanded for more than three years,
left the Battalion for service overseas. The command passed
to Major T.B.J. Eveleigh, who later was promoted to Lt.Colonel.
I think I must try and describe the state of the Battalion
at that time. Please understand that these are my impressions.
I do not attribute them to anyone else, and it may be that
many will disagree with them. But unless my account is coloured
with my own partiality and affection it may become too stereotyped,
too much like a newspaper report or even regimental orders.
Two years before we had been selected for conversion from
infantry to armour. That is, we who had formed for so long
part of the 42nd Division were thenceforth to wear black
berets and travel about in tanks instead of on our march
hardened feet. At that time many felt it was a bad things
to become grease monkeys and garage hands, and there was
much talk of being hard infantry, footsloggers and what
you will. I may be putting it too strongly when I say that
this conversion made us, for a time more infantry-minded
that we had ever been before. But his stage passed, and
it must be placed, on record that the whole Battalion applied
itself with energy and not a little skill to becoming a
tank regiment. Results on courses, not that they are infallible
but they are at least concrete evidence rather than hearsay,
were excellent. Many were not concerned how they fought,
whether they fought in tanks or on their own feet, but they
would have preferred, if with the Brigade, with the Division,
that they had known and served so long as infantries. However,
we sang:

"We don't want to march like
the Infantry,
Ride like the Cavalry,
Shoot like Artillery;
We don't want to fly over
Germany.
We are the R.A.C. (L.F.)."

never forgetting the "brackets L.F." which
was always the part of the song that was bellowed with the
most conviction.
To cut a long story short, for you will certainly hear it
from many an old member of the Battalion told in much greater
and more accurate detail (and possibly in more brightly
descriptive terms) than I can hope to do on paper in the
short time at my disposal - to cut a long story short we
ceased to belong to the old 42nd (East Lancashire) Territorial
Division of Infantry, and eventually it became apparent
that soon the Battalion would disappear, or die a lingering
death, according to the will of those above us.
This then was roughly the position in July 1943. To the
senior officers and warrant officers and N.C.O.'s, and to
a great number of the men who had served so long together,
the position was deplorable and horrible. To those of us
who had not been in the Battalion long it was not quite
so hard, but I can say that the succession of events was
extremely irritating and the sympathy we felt for the older
members of the Battalion was very sincere. Also during our
short stay with the Battalion we had been made so much at
home and so much a part of it that the impending events
held the promise of very personal loss. Somehow everybody
felt that we had had rather a raw deal.
It was in these circumstances that Major T.B.J. Eveleigh
took command.
He proceeded to prepare for the most remarkable Minden Day
I ever hope to see. He decided, I think that if this was
to be the last fling it should be a damned good one. Major
J. H. Fielden was despatched to Bury with a colour party
of veterans (including S.S.M. Bentley, S.Q.M.S. Wallis and
S.Q.M.S. Lomax) to bear back the Regimental and King's colour
from Bury Parish Church. The party returned and the colours
were placed in the Officers' Mess.
Meanwhile the rehearsals for the great day had begun. The
soft air of early morning was made horrible with the shouting
and drilling, and the whole Battalion was on parade shortly
after reveille every morning to perfect the ceremony. For
Major Eveleigh had decided to Troop the Colour and, despite
the murmurings of the old soldiers about "it taking
all of three months in peace-time with proper soldiers and
struck off al duties," and the murmuring of young soldiers
about blanco-ing and associated evils, the preparations
went forward. It was significant that many who had seldom
been seen in the open air before could now be watched at
all hours of day or night pacing up and down paths and lawns,
oblivious of their surroundings, immersed in deciphering
the mysteries of the "Manual of Ceremonial." Even
members of the convert party slowly became aware that there
were other things to rehearse, and their representations
of the original Minden Day paled into insignificance beside
the task now confronting them. Officers could be seen slowly
marching over the cricket field (shortly to be the field
of Minden) under the sometimes-exasperated eyes of the R.S.M.
He (R.S.M. Ramsden) worked and scolded, pleaded and thundered
until the whole affair began to take shape.
The Depot Band had come to us and joined in the rehearsals.
It put a new complexion on the whole business. You and I
do not march naturally
Perhaps like ducks taking to the water. But put us behind
a band of this sort and nothing can stop us. And so it was.
Thus Minden Day approached. It fell this year on a Sunday,
and the preliminaries included a performance by the Regimental
Concert Party and an All Ranks Dance on the Saturday night.
As sleep closed those weary eyes on the last night of July,
belts and gaiters, Sam Brownes and chinstraps, boots and
butt plates glowed in anticipation of the morrow.
But only for a short while, for with the first light of
August 1st round the buildings marched the band and drums
playing the rousing sequences of the Minden March. The dead
could not fail to be stirred by this most exhilarating of
all marches. Minden Greetings! Minden was here. Perhaps
the last, but certainly, if we know anything about it, the
best, Minden Day, 1943.
The Trooping of the Colour will be most difficult to describe,
and before I begin I must give you a list of the most prominent
people among those present.

The day was very hot and bright and the field had been
prepared by Sergeant Kelly, the Provost Sergeant, and the
unfortunates under his supervision, to give a gay though
dignified appearance to the parade. In the centre of the
north side was the platform where shortly the General would
take the salute, and to each side of him a great crowd of
relations and friends and many of the inhabitants of the
neighbouring villages. For, to the neighbourhood, during
the time that we were at the Abbey, we had to a high degree
become "their" Regiment. There seemed to be some
quality the men possessed for making themselves part and
parcel of these villages. And here the villagers all were
to see the parade. The field, usually rather a dull place
behind the M. T. lines, had taken on a new splendour for
this one great day.
You may read in the "Manual of Ceremonial" what
happens when the Colour is Trooped. I cannot begin to describe
it without entangling myself in details of who should be
at one flank of the other at a given time. But the band,
the roses, the precision, and somehow the friendliness -
the understanding that seemed to flow from the font part
of the procession to the rear, and the Colours themselves
- all these things are deeply impressed on my memory. And
the flies! The field adjoined a far and when standing at
attention, great bunches of horse flies attached themselves
to all parts of you and particularly to the lobes of your
ears. Captain Bellhouse, with usual forethought, had purchased
small bottles of a special liquid which when daubed freely
over the face and body, gave some immunity. This helped
a bit, but the flies, combined with the heat of the day,
demanded Herculean efforts of control and poise from those
taking part.
When the Colours had been marched off there was a drumhead
service. I did not attend this, and while it was taking
place, I have to confess that I was replacing some of the
liquid I had lost involuntarily on the parade.
There was a sense of relief and not a little pride at the
successful conclusion of the tricky part of the day. The
C.O., after showing the General the colours, brought him
to the Officers' Mess, which had been established for the
day in two large marquees on one of the lawns.
Then the round of visiting began. From the mess to C.O.
was borne along to the Sergeants' Mess and round the Squadrons
to give and receive Minden Greetings. He was accompanied
by Lt. Col. J. K. Hopkinson and Lt.-Col. E. A. North, two
former members of the Battalion.
You have seen dining halls on Minden Day. You know how a
hut is transformed from it's usual prosaic self, with the
smell of grease and green vegetables in the background,
into a rosy arbour, a military fairyland. So it was this
day. I cannot say which Squadron excelled the other in the
decoration it had achieved; I can only recall my surprise
at the ingenuity that had been displayed and the wealth
of vanity.
Officers and Sergeants lined up to serve the men with their
dinners and beer. Noise and greetings, hand claspings, the
clatter of cutlery and pots, and then silence for the Commanding
Officer, for Minden, for the Loyal Toast. Then cheering
and speeches that were not speeches at all, but mostly musings
and reminiscences of past Minden Days. A collection of all
the small memories that form the basis of Battalion tradition.
Then rather sleepily to lie for a moment or two in the sun
and allow the effects of a large dinner and some pints of
beer to wear off.
I have known very riotous afternoons on previous Minden
Days. I regret that I took this one easily and connate tell
you much about it. All I can readily say is that it was
reputed to be well up to usual standard.
Then the band seemed to be playing, somewhere again and
the Officers' Dinner was about to start. At the head of
the Marquee behind the C.O. were the two Colours with the
rose wreath in the centre, and in the artificial light the
tablecloths and silver shone with a particular brilliance.
The meal too its course while the band played outside -
marches, waltzes, selections from musical comedies and after
toasting His Majesty, "Those who fell at Minden"
were remembered in silence, as is the custom of long tradition.
Finally came the ancient ceremony of eating the Roses, and
ordeal that must be passed through by all officers attending
their first Minden dinner. Thirty-four Officers sat down
to this, the last Battalion Minden dinner for some time
to come, and each felt the solemness of the occasion.
But victories must be celebrated, and this was Minden Day!
The mood quickly changed, and the before long the Officers
were joining in the gaiety of the Sergeants' Mess dance
in the Long Gallery of the Abbey, decorated so effectively
for the occasion. Seldom could the ghosts of the old monks
have looked down on a happier, gayer crowd of maidens and
men. If they raised a frown it could only have been due
to the reaction of their old-fashioned conceptions to the
"Hokey Pokey," and surely they must have laughed
with us as we laughed, and approved of us as they heard
the silent vows made by many a Lancashire Fusilier that
day. It was a day worthily spent.